Marker



A. C. GREENE July 24, 1928.

MARKER Filed April '7, 1926 Patented July 24,1928.

ALBERT CECIL GREENE, or WILLESDE'N auncrron, LONDON, nuemnn.

MARKER.

Application filed April 7, 1926, Serial No. 100,356, and in GreatBritain August 15, 1925.

This invention relates to improved means for producing a permanent,durable and visible mark or safety line for marking roads, in the middleor elsewhere in order to guide or direct the drivers of vehicles or footpassengers and so on, and is intended more especially to prevent ordiminish the liability to collisions between road vehicles travelling inopposite or different directionsvand to avoid accidents to pedestriansand others. The invention is equally applicable for marking pavements inorder to guide pedestrians and also for marking tennis courts and otherplaces. I

According to this invention, the improved means for marking roads andother places 7 with a safety-line or other mark or marks comprises anumber ofstrips ors'ections of metal or alloy or other durable materialsuch as pottery, glass or artificial stone of a colour, such as whiteorblack or some other colour, strongly contrasting with the colour ofthe surrounding material of which the road or other surface is made andincapable of becoming indistinct or darker (or lighter as the case maybe) than the surrounding road, pavement, tennis court or the like. Eachof the-strips or sections is furnished with a base or lower part orparts 3 or anchored in the material of which the object such as the roadsurface or the road foundation is made; Preferably, each sec tion isprovided at each end with means adapted to interlock, engage orbeengaged with an adjoining strip or section. To cause adjoiningsection-s to interlock, each section-is, for example, provided with aconcavity or female portion at one end and a convexity or male portionto correspond at the other end. In order that the strips or sections maybe securely anchored in the road, each stri is provided with sides or asingle web an a flange or flanges .or a lug or lugs arranged to diverge.The. sides,

preferably converge in a downward direction and are provided withoutwardly extending lugs to assist the keying or anchoring of the stripin the road material or the like.

And in order that the invention may be easily understood and readilycarried into adapted to be embedded, interlocked, keyed" efiect,reference will be made to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1is a perspective view of a sec- 65 tion or strip for marking a road orother place and Figure 2 is a section on the line II--II, Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a plan view showing how the strips are assembled in thesurface of a road or thelike. Y '1 Figures 4 and 5. are perspectiveviews of modified forms of strips.

Figure 6 is a perspective view, taken from below, of a strip for formingan angle.

Figure 7 is a perspective view of another modification. a Figure 8 is aplan of a mould for containlng several strips for reinforcement, fillingand building up with concrete.

Figure 9 is a cross section on the line IX-IX of Figure 8, and

Fig. 10 shows another form of marker top.

On referring-to Figures 1 and 2 of the .drawing, it will be seen thatthe marking strip or device, suitably made of aluminium alloy or otherappropriate material or metal, not readily oxidizable when in contactwith Y air or moisture, is of inverted channel sec- 0 tion, the bottomof the channel serving as the top a of the strip, forming the wearingsurface flush with the road or other surface. The top a is fiat orapproximately flat, as are also the sides I) which converge and eachside is provided with an outwardly projecting flange 0. Each of thesestrips or sections is provided at one end with a partcircular recess 03and at the other end with a part-circular extension 0. These strips arelaid, for example asshown in Figure 3 end to end and interlocking-on theconcrete or. other foundation of the road or are embedded in the roadmetal or other material in such a manner that the flat wearing surface ashall lie in the same plane as that of the surface of the road. -Theangles between the top a and the sides I), are, say, about 60 or 70 andthe flanges 0 are about 90 tothe sides. If made of aluminium 1 alloy ofgood wearing qualities, it will be found that the safety-line, made upof a number of these strips, wears with the road. The dimensions andangles will be varied according to requirements. In this example, thethickness of the top of each strip may be from one quarter to, one halfan inch throughout or the wearing surface may be thicker than the otheror keying parts, namely-the converging sides I) and the flanges a. Thewidth of the wearing surface a is suitably four or five inches and eachstrip may be a foot long or more. The depth of the strip with its sidesis about two inches or more, according to the thickness of the asphaltor other road surface, the thickness of the sides is from one eighth toone quarter of an inch, and the flanges 0 are conveniently about onequarter of an inch or even an inch wide, according to circumstances. Ifdesired, the flat top portion a may be provided with a central narrowrecess 7 extending for about two thirds of the total length of the stripor the top a. This prevents wheels from slipping or skidding and alsogives pedestrians a good foothold.

Figure 4 illustrates a strip veryl slmilar to that just described exceptthat the central portion is made chequered at 9: instead of recessed asin Figures 1 to-3 inclusive. The chequer-work serves to prevent slippingand if desired may extend over the whole top of the strip. This strihas'sides and flanges with gaps j in the si es and flanges to improveits keying qualities in the road metal, concrete or foundation. v

In Figure 5, the recess is provided with a recess having cross bars k. I

In Figure 6 the top 2' is curved at the right hand end and shaped at anangle of about at the other end to connect with another strip at rightangles thereto. In

' this construction, there are holes is instead of-fa recess asinFigures 1, 2 and 3 or chequered work as in Figure 4 or a recess and barsh as in Figure 5. 1 I

Figure 2 illustrates a strip having its upper edges provided withisolated recesses 11, of part-circular shape which in addition topreventing slipping or skidding of wheeled vehicles also enables tlfieedges to wear more readily with the su ace of the road and also ,forms aguide to show the amount of wear which has taken place. Or the edges ofthe bevelled.

As in most cases, for road work, -it is advisable to anchor the stripsin blocks of ."comprises a bottom 3' to which one side 4:

may be permanently fixed while the other side 5 is hinged at 6 and is,moreover, provided with fixed ends 7, of which only one is shown. Theside 5 and ends 7 are tem porarily secured to the side 4 by bolts suchthe stri top may be chamfered or suitable clamping means may be employedto hold themould parts together during moulding and setting. To form ablock several strips-are laid therein upside down as shown and betweeneach adjoining two strips is inserted vertically a piece of sheet iron10 (Figure 8) curved to the shape of the adjoining convex and concaveends of the strips and these pieces of sheet iron serve to separate eachstrip and its block from its neighbour. The concrete aggregate andcement mixed are introduced into the mould and tamped down so that theconcrete fills all the space above and between. the sides 6 and flangesc and the sides of the mould but not the spaces below the flanges c andbetween the sides b and the sides of the 'mould so that a spantriangular in section is left between each lug o, the side I) and thesides I), with recesses 11 in the neighbourhood of the diverging flanges0 and a concrete bottom corresponding to the upper part of the mould. Atrench is made in the road sufficiently deep to bring the top a of flushwith the road when the composite b ock is inserted therein and the block18 grouted in. g a

In Figure 10 I have shown a modified form of top section which isprovided with converging sides and lateral flanges or lugs, as describedwith reference to the other forms herein. The section is formed partcircular at each end .to'engage with two adjoining strips withpart-circular recesses, or in case the strips are arranged isolated, orwith spaces between them to save cost in marking the road or pavement.This strip may be I this avoids the existence of acute angles and weakplaces or parts liableto be. deformed by being struck by horseshoes orother hard articles.

I claim 1. Means for roducing a visible line for marking'the sur ace ofthe material of which roads 'and other laces consist and comprising aplurality of strips of durable material of a colour contrastin with thecolour of the material to be marked, each of the said strips consistingof a top, means on the upper surface of the top for preventing thewheels of vehicles andthe feet of human beings and animals from slippingthereon, converging sides extending downwardly from the said top,laterally extending flanges projecting from. the said sides, a maleporition at one end of the said strip, and a female portion at the otherend of the said ftrilp for enabling adjoining strips to inter- 2. Meansfor producing a visible line for marking roads and other places, andcomprising a plurality of strips of durable material of a colourcontrasting with the colour of the material to be marked, each of thesaid strips consisting of a top, convergin sides, extending downwardsfrom the sai top gaps in the said sides, laterall extending lugsprojecting from the sai sides, a male portlon at one end of the top ofthe said stri and a female portion at the other end of t e said stripforenabling adjoining strips to interlock.

3. Means for producing a visible line for marking roads and other placesand comprising a plurality of strips of durablematerial and of acolour,. contrasting with the colour of the material to be marked, eachof the said strips consisting of a top, recesses along the upper edgesof the top of the strip, converging sides extending downwards from thesaid top, gaps in the said sides, laterally extending lugs projectingfrom the said sides, a male portion at one end of the to of the saidstrip and a female portionat t e other end of the top of the said stripfor enabling adjoining strips to interlock.

4. Means for producing a visible line for marking roads and other placesand comprising a plurality of strips of durable material and of a colourcontrasting with the colour of the material to be marked, each of thesaid strips recessed in the top to prevent slipping, recesses atintervals along the upper edges of the strip, convergin sides extendingdownwards from the sai top, gaps in the said sides, laterally extendinglugs projecting from the said sides, a part-circular male portionextending at one end of the top of the said strip and a part-circularrecess at the other end of the top of the said strip for enablingadjoining strips to interlock.

5. Road orground marker comprisin a sheath composed of a top surface memer and longitudinal side members depending therefrom, said side membershaving a key formation adapted for taking ip when embedded in theground, a bloc moulded on to said sheath so that part of said block iscontained within' said sheath, the combined block and sheath beingadapted for being embedded as a marker in aground surface, a curvedconvex formation on one end of said block and sheath, and a curvedconcave formation on the opposite end of said block and sheath, a series.of these combined blocks and sheaths being adapted for being embeddedend to end as a line marker in a gitudinal edges of t the security ofthe anchoring of said marker in said ground surface.

6. A road or ground marker comprising a rigid sheath composed ofasurface member having a top to lie flush with the ground surface,longitudinal converging side members depending from each lateral edge ofthe said top and laterally projectin and diverging lugs at the bottom ofsai side members, the said lateral lugs being located within thevertical planes including the longitudinal edges of the top. w

7. A road or ground marker, comprising a rigid sheath composed of a topmember of which the upper surface is adapted to lie flush with theground surface, means on the upper surface of the top for preventing thewheels of vehicles and the feet of human beings and animals from slippinthereon, converging side members depen ing from each lateral edge of thesaid top and laterally extending flan es projectin outwardly from thebottom ogthe said si es, the said converging sides and diverging flangesbeing located within the vertical planes including the longitudinaledges of the top and being adapted for securely anchoring the sheathwhen embedded in the material to be marked.

8. A road or ground marker, comprising i edge of the said top, laterallyextending flanges projecting outwardly from the bot tom of the saidsides, and gaps in the said side members and flanges, the said converg-'ing sides and diverging flanges being located within the vertical planesincluding the lone topl and being adapted for securely anchoring t esheath when embedded in the material to be marked.

9. A road or ground marker comprising a rigid sheath com osed of a towhose upper surface is adapte to lie flush with the ground surface,means on the u per surface of the top for preventing the w eels ofvehicles and the feet of human beings and animals from slipping thereon,converging side members depending from each lateral edge of the saidtop, notches at the angles of the to and sides, laterallyextendingflanges pro ecting outwardly from the bottom of the said sides, and gapsin the said side members and flanges, thesaid sides and flanges beinglocated within the vertical planes including the sides of the top andbein ada ted for securely anchoring the sheat w en em-' bedded in thematerial to be marked.

ALBERT CECIL GREENE.

